Serenity
by Centrau guardian
Summary: Duo Maxwell knows this is the last time. It's too late now. All he can do is lie and wait for serenity to take him into her arms and cleave apart the agony. AU. Deathfic.


Serenity

Duo Maxwell was a picture of agony. Vermillion tendrils had fallen from the rat-tailed braid that lay tangled across the floor. The dirt prickled cruelly at his wounds, insistently reminding him of the cold, gritty floor he sprawled over.

It had been a while. A long while. An extremely long while. In fact it was getting to the point where Duo just forgot about time all together and decided this was everything and infinity. There was no way to not down the passing of days in this place; no way to even know if they had passed. Just four grey walls, a blood-spattered floor, a grime-coated ceiling…

And the door.

Duo shuddered briefly, forcing his body to stop as he felt the shiver of his broken ribs scraping against each other. They'd really done a number on him this time; he knew it wasn't something he could easily recover from. If he could recover at all. It wasn't likely in here, maybe if he got back…

But how? The only access was the door. And even if Hell itself rose into this room there was no freaking way he was touching that sodding door.

His fingers twitched furiously as he remembered his first attempt at escape. The sudden shocking agony. The acrid smell of burnt flesh. They'd rigged the damn thing to electrocute anyone who touched it.

With a bitter grin he hoped one of them slipped.

The muffled sound of screaming reached him, slyly creeping past the door to smooth itself across his ears. Ear. Whatever.

It was about damn time, he mused, just barely managing to lift his heavy head to gaze towards the bastard hunk of bitchy metal. He only now noticed that the light was gone, the harsh fluorescent glow of the pipes above him swallowed in the maw of darkness. It had taken the son of a bitch long enough.

It was too much effort to haul the rest of his body from the floor. Too much effort to even hold his head up really. He let it fall with a dull thunk, barely noticing the cold ache amidst the myriad of brutality his body screamed at him. It wouldn't be long anyway. He could hear the quiet slot of the mechanism in the door pulling back.

It opened silently. Only a brief hiss as it hit the very end of it's path told him it had been swung inwards. He kept his eyes closed, knowing that either way the image would be the same, and listened to the soft breathing.

It was obvious who it was. Quatre would have been sobbing, Trowa completely silent. Wufei was more likely to call him a fucking idiot before he finished the job.

There was only the gentle breathing.

"Hey Heero," Duo hoarsely gasped. "Ho-How's things?"

A footstep, then another, barely there in the smothering blanket of pitch black. The light press of a hand as it clinically accessed his injuries, then a small tightening as it found his stomach.

"Doesn't loo- look good, hey Hee-chan?"

The hand withdraw and the room returned to normal. Duo wasn't quite sure if Heero was even there anymore.

"No, Duo," The low tone startled him. "It doesn't."

Duo sobbed once, trying desperately to shift to a less painful position. "Hee-chan? We gotta - gotta stop meeting like thi-this," He opened his eyes to stare into nothing.

"This is the last time," the velvet barotone answered him. "I can't save you this time."

"Geez," Duo laughed weakly, breaking off to cough. "Che- Cheerful today, ai-ain't ya?"

Fingers pressed into his shoulder, cutting off some of the pain instantly. Duo gasped in gratitude at the small mercy.

"Duo?"

He drew in a deep breath, letting it go explosively when agony ripped through his ribs. "Y-Yeah, He-Hee-chan?"

"I'm sorry."

Duo laughed brokenly, arching his head as he gritted his teeth.

The tears laced themselves down the side of his face instead.

"Te-Tell Hilde… Tell her… I love her."

He felt the cool skin of the other's forehead rest against his own briefly, the cool touch of fingertips wiping away his weakness. "Boys don't cry…" The low agonised whisper brushed his ragged hair. "Remember?"

Duo smiled achingly, the sad pull of muscles in his cheeks bringing new pain to life.

The warmth pulled away, and the harsh cracks of metal sliding into place rang out above him. He could feel the threat of the barrel pointed towards him, could feel the surrender it promised him.

"Hee-Heero?"

Silence.

"Thank you."

And serenity shot through him.

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Sad now... I've always wanted to write Duo Maxwell, he's just such an interesting and fun character, unfortunately I didn't really get to play with that side of him in this. I hope I've captured him at least passingly well!

Reviews are of course, always welcome! Oh! And this is very definitely AU!


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